iRobot Press Release

iRobot Expands Popular Home Robot Line with the Worldâ€™s Most Compact Floor Washing Robot and the Next Generation Roomba

With iAdapt Technology and Innovative Design, iRobot has Every Room of the House Covered
BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 3, 2011 â€“ iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic technology-based solutions, today announced two new home robots to do your dirty work: the iRobot ScoobaÂ® 230 â€“ a floor washing robot small enough to clean in tight spaces and around bathroom fixtures â€“ and the iRobot RoombaÂ® 700 Series, the smartest and most effective Roomba vacuum cleaning robots to date. Both will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 6.

iRobot Scooba 230 and iRobot Roomba 700 Series use iAdaptâ„¢ Responsive Cleaning Technology, the most intuitive, flexible and effective way to clean your floors. This system of software and sensors monitors the environment 64 times per second, using dozens of behaviors to ensure the entire floor is thoroughly cleaned. The dirt-centric technology ensures thorough coverage, including under and around furniture, and multiple passes over the areas that need it most.

â€œThese new robots represent our ongoing commitment to developing innovative products that make a difference in peopleâ€™s lives,â€ said Jeff Beck, president of iRobotâ€™s Home Robots division. â€œWhile Roomba is already the worldâ€™s best-selling vacuum cleaning robot, we continue to make improvements to ensure it is the best on the market and stays at the head of the pack. With the compact Scooba 230, we focused on reducing size without compromising effectiveness and navigability. The launch of Scooba 230 has effectively made one of peopleâ€™s least favorite household chores, cleaning the bathroom, a whole lot easier.â€

Small but Mighty
Scooba 230 is a powerful and compact cleaning machine. At 3.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches in diameter, the robot easily cleans in tight spaces, including under and around furniture and bathroom fixtures. The robotâ€™s three-stage cleaning system washes, scrubs and squeegees floors, neutralizing up to 97 percent of common household bacteria*. Scooba 230 holds enough cleaning solution to scrub up to 150 square feet of linoleum, tile or sealed hardwood floors in a single cleaning session.

Unlike with a mop and bucket, Scooba only uses clean solution to wash your floors, never dirty water. Scooba 230â€™s water management system includes an active reservoir that keeps the cleaning solution and dirty water separate inside the robot. While the robot is cleaning, the active reservoir shrinks in size as cleaning solution is put down on the floor, freeing up space in the robot to hold the dirty water that is picked up. Scooba doesnâ€™t move dirt (or dirty water) around â€“ it gets rid of it.

Scooba uses a series of lights and chimes to let you know it has successfully finished cleaning. The bottom plate of the robot snaps on and off without tools, making it fast and easy to rinse the scrubbing brushes and the squeegee after each use.

Virtual WallÂ® technology creates an invisible beam that the robot wonâ€™t cross, keeping Scooba 230 in the rooms you want to clean and out of the ones you donâ€™t. Cliff sensors ensure the robot automatically avoids stairs and drop-offs while cleaning.

The Worldâ€™s Best-Selling Vacuum Cleaning Robot Just Got Even Better
The award-winning Roomba vacuum cleaning robot has been revolutionizing the way people clean their homes since 2002, and iRobot has sold more than five million home robots worldwide. The sixth-generation iRobot Roomba 700 Series includes the same state-of-the-art features that Roomba users have come to know and introduces new innovations that make the robot more effective and easier to use. The newest Roomba robots include an updated and improved three-part cleaning system along with several new features and upgrades:

â€¢ Dirt Detect Series 2 (available on Roomba 770 and 780) uses an acoustic sensor to detect excessive amounts of small and hard debris, such as sand, and an optical sensor to detect larger and soft debris, such as popcorn. Dirt Detect Series 1, which uses the acoustic sensor, is available on the Roomba 760.

â€¢ With a Persistent Pass Cleaning Pattern, Roomba uses a brush-like, back-and-forth motion to focus its cleaning when it finds an excessively dirty area.